Morbus Ignotum
by Nicole Gilskilz
Summary: (Previously Nikki: The Second Generation) Morbus Ignotum is a bacterium of the unknown. When it seeps into the water supply of Mobius, the schools send all the students on a camping trip away from the crazy, rabid-like, infected people of the city. Nikki makes a plan to find whatever is contaminating the water and put a stop to it. If only her parents, Sonic and Amy, were on board.


My tired ears picked up heavy footsteps going down the hallway, stomping past my room. The sharp buzz of the TV gaining power filled the house and gave me chills. My eyes tore themselves apart, sorely adjusting to the darkened surroundings that I called my room. I unconsciously stretched my arms and legs, gathering my senses as I picked up the blurbs of sounds coming from the TV. Flipping over in my bed, I wrestled for control over my blankets and looked at my alarm clock.

_7:27_

I let out an exasperated groan. I set my alarm to go off at seven thirty every morning, yet I always seem to way up just a couple minutes before hand each day. The internal clock that is controlling my sleep patterns must never want me to ever have a well rested sleep. Oh well. I tucked my arm underneith the side of my blanket and flung it off of me, a burst of cold air rushed to greet my bare skin, leaving me covered in tiny goosebumps.

I quickly dug through the bundle of fresh clothes I let pile up on the chair that sat in the corner of my room. A few collateral clothes fell to the ground as I ripped a gray long sleeved shirt from the middle of the pile. I slid my feet through a pair of leggings and waited an extra minute for my alarm to go off, turning it off not a second after it turned on. I pulled my loose hair into a tight knot and slumped my way into the hallway, then out towards the living room.

I plopped down on the couch. "Morning Pop," I said as I curled up to my dad, sporting a half baked yawn across my face. He rested his arm on my head as I focused in on the TV, "What's the news about?"

He glanced at me and smiled, "When did you start caring for the news?"

"Since it's seven thirty in the morning and I got nothin' else to do," I snark back at him, covering another yawn with the sleeve.

He rolled his eyes and let out a chuckle, jabbing at my sides with his hands. I flinched and batted his hand away as he remarked, "Just as sassy as me. Maybe one day you'll be as fast as me too!"

I elbowed him in the side, "Ahh! 'The great and powerful Sonic the Hedgehog falls second best to his daughter, Nikki the Hedgehog!'" I laughed, emphasizing the words with my hands, "I can see the headlines now!"

"Yeah, you wish, you little nut-ball. I am _the_ fastest and will always _be_ the fastest_, _chew on that!" He let out an exasperated _Ha!_

I head-butted him in the shoulder and spoke through bursts of giggles, "Chew on that? I didn't know you can eat your own words! Maybe you should keep talking so we can have some breakfast-"

"The nut doesn't fall far from the tree, I see."

My eyes flashed up towards the voice, locking eyes with the starburst pink colored glow of my mom, "Good morning, Momma!"

My dad's ears perked up at the sight of the pink hedgehog standing in the doorway at the top of the steps. He immediately pulled himself off the couch and ran to her side, leaving me to catch myself with my palms against the hardwood flooring, "Hey!" I complained, rubbing the pain out of my hands after I picked myself back up.

My dad grabbed onto her elbow and placed his hand on her lower back, guiding her down the small, four-step flight of stairs, "How ya feelin', Ames?"

She giggled and took her arm back, "Cool it, Sonic. I'm pregnant, not paralyzed!"

"Well, they both start with the letter "P", don't they?" My dad teased.

I smiled at their little banter. I think I hit the jackpot when it came to parents. I think it would be something that the other teens at school would envy, especially since the majority of the students I know have divorced parents. My parents have known each other for most of their lives though, and that might be why they have been together for so long. They got so used to depending on each other in times of need that they just realized they couldn't live without each other.

My mom would always tell me stories of how, at first, dad wasn't interested in her at all, and he would always try to run away from her affections. Dad claims that it isn't true though, that he had always known but he was just scared. I have never seen my father scared, though. I believe mom's story more.

He kept directing her down to the couch despite her protests, even helping her sit down. She was due next month and looked like she had a pumpkin hiding under her shirt. She insisted that he needn't help her, but that didn't stop him from running to the other side of her just to put back her recliner. In less than a second, he was back to the couch, but instead of being in between me and the end of the couch, he now rested between mom and I. With a serious face now plastered on his face, he grabbed the remote and hit the rewind button, going back to what was playing before I got there, "You're gonna want to hear this, Ames."

He clicked play and the TV started rolling again:

"And now onto news on something that could potentially poison the citizens of our town, coming to you live from outside the park's fountain, Relic the Pika has made a shocking discovery. Relic..."

The camera cut to the park, a few onlookers lingered behind the newscaster, waving frantically, wanting to get their five seconds of fame.

"Thank you. I'm coming to you live from Station Square park. As we all know, our water comes to us naturally , from the river that separates us from the mainland. A portion of the water gets transported to a disinfecting station where it gets rid of all the unwanted bacteria. However, in recent studies, there have been traces of an unknown substance, recently named _Morbus Ignotum_, which organisms have a structure similar to those of rabies. The recent rise in crime rates may have this bacterium to blame. We have not found the source of the contamination, and it is advised to stop drinking local and tap waters and only consume from out-of-area purified water bottles. We will keep you updated on the issue later in the week."

The little mute square came on the bottom of the TV, and the room went silent. I looked towards my parents knowingly. My school has had an average of four lock-downs per week for the past three weeks, which is why the administration was planning a district-funded school wide camping trip for the students on the far side of the island, away from all the reports. It's strange to think that this is all because of a few small parasites.

My mom wore a worried look on her face, "Out-of-area water? Do you know how much money that's going to cost? That's going to drain even _us_. Think about all the poor families in the inner city. And we'll be broke even before the baby comes..."

My mom wore stress on her face like a beat up, old jacket. The creases in her face weren't usually visible, but the weight of the upcoming birth and now the contaminated water shown them like a dry patch of grass on a hot summer's day. My dad wrapped his arm around her, trying to comfort her to the best of his ability, "It's okay, Ames. Don't worry about it, we still have the royalties saved for this from before, nothing bad is going to happen as long as we are here together."

I stood up, thinking as quickly on my feet as I do running on them, "I'll get a job, too! I'm sure there are some restaurants that need a speedy delivery person."

My mom rolled her eyes, "Sweetie, you know you can't show your powers in public. It put a target on your dad, I don't want one on you too. Besides, you're too young to get a job."

When I was little, my parents used to tell me about their crazy adventures battling and taking down Dr. Eggman; all the times that someone had almost gotten killed; how my Uncle Tails got into a very life threatening accident. They told me that to keep me safe, I shouldn't use my powers in public. Plus, they didn't want other kids to only be friends with me because I had powers, or because my parents were famous. So they only ever told their friends, faculty and school staff that I was their child.

"I, um.." I scanned my brain for ideas, only one place came to mind, "I can go work at the gym, before hours. I'm sure they could use the extra help with cleaning! Plus, Auntie S. already knows about my powers."

My Auntie S. came later into their group of friends. They never really trusted her to watch over me while I was younger, so I'm not as close to her as I am to the rest of my non-related family. My parents referred to her as "crazy and paranoid". I guess I would be too if I grew up alone in the jungle.

Mom contemplated it for a short minute, but the doubt in her mind won the battle and she shook her head, "Aren't you supposed to be going on that school camping trip soon? You won't be here enough to help."

"I'll only be gone for a week, Mom. But I guess you're right," I said. With packing, prepping, and school before the trip starts, my schedule will be more than full.

I heard my dad laugh, "Of course she's right, she's your mom!" She put her hand on the back of his head, giggling, and messed up his quills, sending him jumping off the couch, rushing to get every last quill back into place, "Hahaha, very funny."

"Well, I'm going to be going up to the mouth of the river, I could try and see what's going on. Try and stop it. I am the daughter of the Mobian heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose ya know," I winked at them and gave them a thumbs up, the signature pose I have seen my dad do a thousand times in various posters and videos.

My mom put the recliner to the chair down and stood up, slowly, as if fighting through pain, "Nikki, you're only seventeen, I don't think it would be safe for you to just jump into action like that without someone there to help."

I shook my head, getting up to follow her into the kitchen to grab some breakfast, "No, mom, it won't be like that. I've trained harder in the past four months than I ever had before. I wanted to be ready for this stuff, and I think now I am! Even ask dad, I'll be faster than him soon!"

"In your dreams, Nik!" He shouted from the living room.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, peaking my head around the door frame to the kitchen to meet his grin, "care to put your money where your mouth is?"

"Bring it on! You couldn't outrun me even if I had banana peels taped on the bottom of my feet!"

"Woah, woah, woah. Be nice now," My mom butt in, tossing an orange at my dad from the kitchen opening, "Sonic, you and I are going for a drive to get the water." I felt her hand rest gently on my shoulder, "you can go, though."

"Okay Momma, I love you," I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and hugged my dad as I passed him on my way to the door.

"I love you, too. Be safe," my mom pestered, walking over to the tray to pull the keys out of the pile of other miscellaneous items, "be careful of the water."

My dad let out a protesting groan as I stepped out of the house. I looked around to make sure no one was around and looking. I know it would be super cool to be known as the third speedster in the group of heroes, but for now I'm going to listen to my parents and keep my powers off radar.

Before I took off, I heard my dad yell at me from the open door, "You got your necklace on?"

I nodded, even though I was out of sight, "I always do, Dad!"

"Okay, have fun!"


End file.
